How We Gonna Kick It?

Sometimes I think that there is no finer sound than that of The Beastie Boys in full flight in the mid- 90s. Take Root Down for example...

Root Down

A Jimmy Smith bass loop, vinyl crackle and wah wah guitar and then the three Beasties chucking rhymes and lines around, referencing Dick Hyman, Sweetie Pie, The Meters, the Fruit of The Loom guys and Ad Rock's killer line in the first verse, 'Everybody know I'm known for dropping science'.

 Later on they break off for the immortal and ever usable line, 'Oh my God that's the funky shit!' before jumping straight back in with more verses, lines and imagery flashing by like a graffiti covered train- the NY subway system, the Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Moe Dee and Bob Marley are all in there before they finish with a nod to their producer Mario C, 'That's a record, that's a record 'cause of Mario'. 

There's so much energy and innovation in those few minutes, the samples and the arrangement, the voices, the dynamics... they had it all. The Beastie Boys were a visual experience as well as an audio one- here's the video. 

The mid- 90s come flooding back watching that don't they? 

Root Down was released in May 1995 as an EP with various versions of the song and some live songs, including Something's Got To Give On It, a stoned and slow anti- war jam song, the three Beasties on guitar, bass and drums, all loose and funky. This is the studio version as found on 1994's seminal Ill Communication.

Something's Got To Give

Now That's A Record Buddy

In 1995 lots of bands made claims about being The Best Band In The World. After the more self contained, internal world of 80s indie, it became a sign of ambition and achieving best or biggest status was something all groups should strive for. But all those groups who said such things were all wrong because The Best Band In The World in the mid 1990s was actually Beastie Boys. This track from their 1994 double album Ill Communication is Exhibit A. Made up solely of a few samples (a killer bassline, drums, the crackle of vinyl, some organ from Jimmy Smith's live album of the same name as the song and some deeply funky wah-wah guitar) over which Ad Rock, Mike D and MCA spit out lines and rhymes, coming together for the chorus. Two of the standout lines here are Ad Rock's 'everybody know when I be dropping science' line and later on the sudden stop that leads into 'oh my God, that's the funky shit!' They make it sound like anyone could do this but that's clearly not true. They also make it seem like fun- serious but also fun.

Root Down

The Beastie Boys make double the amount of sense when you have the visuals to go with the music.



There's a book coming out shortly called Beastie Boys Book, co-written by Ad Rock and Mike D with contributions from many of their friends and collaborators, and by the sounds of it it will not be your standard rock biography. During the 90s they expanded into clothing (X-Large), magazine publishing (Grand Royal), owning a record label (also Grand Royal), toured at length and also headlined Lollapalooza, put together a massive fundraising concert for human rights in Tibet, made some of the best pop videos ever (Sabotage and Intergalactic for two) as well as no less than 4 vital hip hop albums- Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty.